Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA...

56
© GSMA 2015 Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture Case study & takeaways for the mobile industry

Transcript of Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA...

Page 1: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture – Case study & takeaways for the mobile industry

Page 2: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Contents

2

1 Market Opportunity – Mobile insurance & agricultureA means of helping and advising organisations to better use their data

Agricultural Micro-Insurance – A case studyWe examine one product & how it should ideally work for farmers

The Customer Journey – Barriers to product successThe reality of using the insurance product & assessment of barriers to scale

Industry Recommendations – Unlocking the path to scaleLearnings for launching agricultural micro-insurance services

Appendix – M4D Impact Evaluation Service ModelA means of helping and advising organisations to better use their data

2

3

4

5

Page 3: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Market OpportunityHow can mobile index based insurance

change the lives of small holder farmers on

a commercially viable model?

3

1

Page 4: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

The global opportunity for mobile

index based insurance in agriculture

Rainfall variation is an increasing global

challenge for smallholder farmers

4

• Research suggests that marginalised small-holder farmers will

be negatively impacted the most from climate change in

developing markets as their ability to adapt to volatile climatic

conditions may not be sufficient to overcome the magnitude of

future hazards.

• The changing climatic conditions present a multi-faceted set of

issues for farmers across the agricultural cycle, from planting to

pest and disease issues, and up to the harvest stage

• One critical area of concern for the farmer is germination which

is intrinsically impacted by changing patterns in rainfall

Micro insurance & mobile technology present a

way to mitigate against weather shocks

• Index based micro insurance could be used by the farmer to

cover small amounts of land (e.g. half acre farm) for a small

(micro) premium (e.g. ~$2).

• Such a small premium is made possible by replacing key

features and transactions of a traditional insurance model with

technology based solutions:

Use satellite weather data to determine the damages to a

farm – reduces cost of in-person farm visits

Use mobile technology to locate, register, and pay farmers

(via mobile money) – reduces cost of sales teams and

payout distribution mechanisms

There is always

uncertainty in farming,

when there isn’t enough

rain you can lose

everything

Farmer, Embu – Kenya

Rainfall

Challenge

“”

Index insurance is a relatively new

but innovative approach to insurance

provision that pays out benefits on

the basis of a predetermined index

(e.g. rainfall level) for loss of assets

and investments

Index Insurance Forum - GIIF

“”

What is

index based

insurance?

Page 5: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Mobile micro insurance is evolving,

but agriculture services lag behind

The space of mobile insurance services has

been maturing

5

• Within the broader industry of mobile based micro insurance

services targeting the Base Of the Pyramid (BOP) users, the last

few years have seen a steady rise of live deployments, the majority

based in Sub-Saharan Africa – the GSMA is now tracking 100

deployments world wide

• As of June 2014, the industry had issued more than 17 million

mobile insurance policies, representing the annual growth of 263%

• Many services are integrated with and led by mobile operators

(56%), and are in partnership with 3rd party implementing

partners and insurers with specific micro-insurance expertise

(64%)

• However, most insurance in this space covers life or health, under

10% of services tracked offer agricultural insurance

<10% of these services

are in agriculture

Source: GSMA MMU state of the industry report, MMU product trackers

56%of mobile insurance

services led by

MNOS

But…

Number of live mobile insurance employed – Dec 2014

17mMobile insurance

policies issued

(June 2014)

64%Of respondents with mobile

insurance services operate

through partnership with

specialist providers

Lowgiven the proportion of

developing world

population working in

agriculture

Page 6: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

“Insurance is sold not bought”, which

models can the agri space learn from?

Micro insurance faces a challenging barrier

6

• Micro insurance (spend now, get pay out later) is a harder sell than

micro credit (get money now). In particular, micro insurance product

customer awareness is low and providers must invest heavily in

customer education to explain how insurance could benefit them

• Many services are using innovative techniques to overcome the

barrier in customer education and uptake. The service examples that

have reached ‘scale’ (e.g. services that have provided more than one

million policies) appear to take one of two strategies:

Loyalty – provide free insurance cover in return for loyalty (e.g.,

airtime use – customer spends more than a set amount per

month)

Freemium - basic level of cover free to customers in the hope that

some will voluntarily upgrade and pay for more comprehensive

cover once the benefit is understood

Two successful models have emerged in the micro-

insurance space and are starting to gain traction

Source: GSMA MMU, Mobile money state of industry report 2014

CreditA bank advances money

to customer

Immediately

Attractive

InsuranceCustomer advances

money to insurance

company

Not Immediately

Attractive

of the services reaching scale have been

pioneered by specialist solutions providers

and use “loyalty” or “freemium” models All 5Commercial model for mobile insurance employed – June 2014

How can micro-insurance players in

the agriculture space learn from and

adapt these successful models?

Page 7: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Kenyan market in focus – the maize

micro insurance market opportunityThe Kenyan market is a good target for mobile

micro insurance services for agriculture sector

7

Maize is produced by the majority of Kenya’s small

holder farmers, with more than 2 million hectares of

Kenya’s land under maize cultivation, average

consumption of Maize provides more than one third of

an individual’s daily caloric supply.*

Many farmers experience failed germination due to

unpredictable weather. Changing rainfall patterns &

drought risk mean seed selection is top of mind for

farmers

The Kenyan market has a high proportion of unique

mobile subscribers (42.53%)** and offers the ability to

integrate mobile insurance based products into a

mature mobile payment system, which has strong rural

reach, and an existing base of customers whose

technical literacy with mobile money is high – these

are optimum conditions for an Agri MFS (Mobile

Financial Service) to scale quickly

We estimate the total addressable market for farmers

who buy Maize seeds, and could be targeted with

bespoke micro insurance service to mitigate against

weather shocks at +7 million farmer households***

Kenyan farmers

frequently experience

failed germination

due to

unpredictable

weather

Without

insurance they often end up

planting low quality

seed which limits

harvest & income

*Source: CGIAR Research Program on MAIZE 2014 & FAO, 2011

**Source: GSMA Intelligence, 2014

***Source: M4D Impact & Altai analysis – assumptions based on households involved in Maize production, and conservatively assume one buyer per household

+7mAddressable market of

Kenyan farmers buying

Maize seed products who

could be targeted with

micro insurance

Maize

central to

livelihoods

Failed

germination

an issue

A mobile

ready

market

Large

addressable

market

Page 8: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Can a tough insurance sell be

replaced by a loyalty incentive?A model which focuses on loyalty for

agribusinesses, and reduces the barrier to

customer adoption by increasing affordability, is

based on similar logic to existing scaled services

8

• Maize seed companies aiming to respond to farmer needs

increasingly offer "drought resistant seed”, and ensure

their brand and reputation is top of mind for farmers – but

just as MNOs have issues with customers churning

between networks, seed companies must fight to

differentiate their products and keep customers loyal

• The successful loyalty based model (typically applied to

mobile network operators) can be applied to seed

companies who face similar challenges – i.e. in return for

loyalty, the farmer’s insurance premium is paid for by the

agribusiness, which reduces one key barrier to adoption

Last year I bought

Pannar, but I saw Duma

at a field day and they

said it can mature in just

75 days. I will try Duma

this year

Farmer, Kitui

?How can seed

companies keep

customers and build

loyalty around their

brands?

InsuranceSeed company

advances money to

insurance company

Immediately

Attractive

No upfront

insurance sell

for farmers

needed..

+

Seed Company

sees valuable

return to their

business

InsuranceCustomer advances

money to insurance

company

Not Immediately

Attractive

Insurance a

tough sell for

farmers…

Model 1 Model 2

(above) Various seed varieties shown

Page 9: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Our study evaluates an agri service

that explores this ‘loyalty’ modelWe examine a mobile based index insurance service offered by Acre Africa that explores the model of

partnering with a mobile operator and an agribusiness to deliver insurance for farmers

9

How is it

working in

practice?

How does the

service work?

How can it

be made

sustainable?

How can it be

scaled and

replicated?

InsuranceSeed company

advances money to

insurance company

Immediately

Attractive

No upfront

insurance sell

for farmers

needed..

+

Seed Company

sees valuable

return to their

business

Model 2In focus….

Page 10: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Agricultural micro insurance

– a case study

We examine one service & how it should

ideally work for farmers, seed companies,

and mobile operators

10

2

Page 11: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

How does the service work?

11

The germination fails after 21

days without rain

Compensation sent to farmer

via mobile money if no

sufficient rainfall in location

Farmer can purchase

seeds, replant, and

harvest in the same

season

The Insurance Provider gets

farmer location from location

based service system and

monitors satellite imagery for

that location

Opens bag during planting, finds

registration card inside

Sends unique SMS code

to short code

At the start of crop season

farmer purchases a bag of

insured seeds

Key farmer actions

Purchase

Register

Replant

A flow of the farmers ideal

journey is briefly

summarized for Acre

Africa’s given mobile

insurance service…

Farmer prepares for

beginning of season

Total Cost for

Farmer

= The price of one

SMS

Page 12: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

There are key actors aside from the

insurance provider & farmer

Agrovets

Farmers

Seed

Company

Mobile

Network

Operator

Micro-

insurance

provider

Who are

they?

Why are

they

important

?

Who are

they?

Why are

they

important

?

Who are

they?

Why are

they

important

?

Individuals

Organisations

They are local merchants

selling agricultural

products to farmers, e.g.

seeds, fertilizer, etc. There

are thousands of these

small business owners

across Kenya

They are present at the point

of sale when farmers

purchase seeds.

They are best positioned to

educate on the insurance

product

They produce and distribute

maize seeds to the Kenyan

market. They have a vested

interest in reaching and

adding value to the lives of

farmers

They seek relationships with

farmers & explore ways to

increase the value of their brand

On this model they pay the

insurance premium on the

farmer’s behalf

They have an established

relationship with the farmer

and a well known brand, in

addition to the

communication network to

reach the customer

They seek to strengthen

relationships with farmers

On this model they provide

critical components that

facilitate reduction in

insurance cost

Page 13: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

The service must fit into existing

farmer behaviors & routines

13

Preparing the land

Buying

seeds

Pre-planting

preparation

Wait for the

rain/

Germination

Planting

Replanting

/gapping

Weeding

Applying

top-

dressing

fertiliser

Spray with

pesticides

Harvest

Farmers are not buying seeds yet. At the

end of the month when they have received

money from their harvest they will all come

Agrovet, Embu

We wait for the

weather

forecasts to tell

us the rainfall

we can expect,

and then we go

to buy our

seeds

Farmer, Kitui

After planting, I have

done my part. Then I

hope for the best

Farmer, Tharaka-Nithi

A week after the rains, I check to see if seeds

have germinated. Along the lines that I have

done, I know where the seeds are. Then I

remove the weaker ones and add new ones

Farmer, Kitui

Page 14: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

In the ideal use case, key actions

on behalf of the farmer are required

14

Key farmer actions

Re-purchaseThe farmer re-

purchases a packet of

seeds of same brand

after positive product

experience

Pre-purchaseThe farmer hears

about the relevant

seeds and the

insurance servcie

PurchaseThe farmer buys a

packet(s) of seeds

from their local

agrovet

ReplantingIf there is no rain, the

farmer is paid in time

with mobile money to

buy new seeds and

replant

RegisterThe farmer registers

by sending SMS to a

short code at time of

planting

1

2

3

4

5

Page 15: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 15

*See explanation of business model canvas framework in appendixKey

activities &

resources

Marketing &

channel

access

Cost/Rev

structurePartners

Customer

Value

Proposition

Data collection from

Mobile Operator,

open data

Farmers:

Mitigate against

risk of drought by

getting investment

recouped

Can register and

get repaid via

mobile/mobile

money

Seed Company

(pays premiums &

makes seeds)

Mobile Operator

(marketing,

channel for

registration,

payments via

mobile )

Insurer

(integrated to the

product, underwrite

the risk)

Card printing Staff costs

IP Insurance model

Satellite data

The Seed

Company:

- Product

differentiation

- Increase

sales/market

shares

The Seed Company:

Have minimal ground

staff

At POS for seeds

packet; Mobile – BTL

/ mobile money;

Some ATL, radio,

etc.

B2B: The Seed

Company, maize

seed input

providers (revenue

source)

B2C: Farmers who

are buying maize

seeds – Indirect

clients (no

revenue)

Location-based

data

Interactions with

insurer

Maintenance of

actuarial model

# of registered packet XX% of average premiumx

XX% Paid by The Seed Company + XX% donor subsidy of final premium cost

End-users:

No direct contacts

and few SMS sent

To rigorously evaluate the service we

detail its underlying business model

Distributor

(distributes the

seeds)

The Distributor:

Distributes seeds to

merchants

Note: the business model canvas is a well known framework for representing the business model of a given

organisation, further details here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Model_Canvas

Page 16: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Operations are dependent on key

Seed Company & MNO partners

16

3 key partner types…

The failure of one partner can have a strong

negative impact – i.e., the service fails to work

without the full co-operation of all of these key

actors

…whose participation is key

1 Partners

Bundles the service with seed packets

Pays for a percentage of the insurance cost (the

donor pays the remaining amount using a subsidy

model)

Seed provider

Mobile operator Provides location-based data

Makes the payout possible via mobile money

Insurer

Underwrites the service

Makes the payouts

Key

activities &

resources

Customer

Value

Proposition

Cost/Rev

structureDistribution

Page 17: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Partners

Key

activities &

resources

Customer

Value

Proposition

Cost/Rev

structureDistribution

The actuarial model uses various

key data sets

Customer location data is critical, and is

provided by the MNO*

Satellite weather data (past and current) is

used to assess precipitation per area, according

to the planting date. It is provided by a US

based public research institute

The IP is the actuarial model leveraging the

two datasets above. It is used to calculate the

pure premium (based on the location and

planting date) before insurer’s validation

2Acre Africa relies on key data sets

to deliver the product

*This location data is not GPS, but is generated from the triangulation of three mobile cell towers. Accuracy of this information can become more challenging in rural regions with

low cell tower coverage. However, it represents the best location data source available for the majority of farmers in rural areas in Kenya at the present time

Page 18: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Value to farmers is clear, value to

Seed Company must be explored

18

Currently, the cost of the insurance to farmers

is subsidized by the Seed Company, so is

effectively exceptionally low

The value proposition to farmers

is strong…3

The Seed Company can be considered as a key

client since they pay for the product - The Seed

Company pays the premium on the farmer’s

behalf, which comes out of the percent margin

they take on a packet of seeds

The Seed Company does so to differentiate

their product on the market, and hopes to see a

return according to key business objectives –

e.g. increased sales, loyalty, etc.

… but the returns for the seed

company will take longer to emerge

Partners

Key

activities &

resources

Customer

Value

Proposition

Cost/Rev

structureDistribution

Page 19: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Scaling up should be very profitable

for Acre Africa

19

Acre Africa’s revenue is based on the volume

of registrations (the more, the better)

..and on the average premium (the higher,

the better):

Acre Africa’s work and analysis are the

same for each area and time period, yet

The Seed Company (who pay) will prefer

lower premiums

4Revenues are driven by two

components…

Acre Africa has two main costs: staff costs that are

fixed since the product is easily scalable…

…and printing costs for the vouchers which is

conducted for all of The Seed Company’s packets

and is thus independent from registration

…while costs are mostly fixed

Partners

Key

activities &

resources

Customer

Value

Proposition

Cost/Rev

structureDistribution

Page 20: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Distribution is challenging, with

minimal engagement to date

20

The primary touch point with customers is the

point of sale at agricultural inputs merchant,

who is not incentivized to educate the

customers about the insurance service

Marketing has been primarily done through

radio, and these costs have been incurred by

the MNO and The Seed Company – however,

efforts have not been much aligned to date

Acre Africa and its partners’

involvement in distribution is very

limited

5

Partners

Key

activities &

resources

Customer

Value

Proposition

Cost/Rev

structureDistribution

Page 21: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 21

Actor Critical role Possible Incentives

• Provision of location data

• Ability to make payments using

mobile money

• Investment into the service by

covering communication and

marketing costs (e.g., SMS promotion,

radio and print marketing, etc.)

• Increased brand awareness for

customers involved in agriculture/

rural segments

• Increased value for customers

involved in agriculture/ rural segments

• Increased mobile money transaction

volumes (payouts)

• Increased SMS usage/volumes

• Pay the insurance premium on

farmers’ behalf (making the seed

company an effective B2B customer)

• Invest in aligning their seed product

marketing, distribution and packaging

with the insurance service on offer

• Increased loyalty of customers who

return next season to re-purchase

seeds

• Product differentiation through added

value proposition of insurance –

farmer feels lower risk

• See increased market share/ sales

volume

Recapping critical role & incentives

of the Seed Company & MNO

Both actors are critical to

support and scale the

service

The MNO and the Seed Company

are integral in supporting the

marketing, distribution, key

resources, activities and impacting

direct revenues for the product

They play a critical role as key

partners and upfront investors in the

service – their incentives for doing

so must be critically examined so

that the service can be most

intelligently aligned with both to

achieve scale

Key

activities &

resources

Marketing &

channel

access

Cost/Rev

structure

Partners

Mobile

Network

Operator

Seed

Company

Page 22: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

The Customer Journey The reality of using the insurance service &

assessment of barriers to adoption and

scale

22

3

Page 23: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

We map a customer journey across

6 stages of interaction with serviceWe formulated a customer

journey similar to those already

used by the GSMA

• The GSMA has used a similar model of the

customer journey to analyse the quality of

user bases across different service types

including mobile agriculture information

services & mobile money services

• In each case we map the progression of

customers from a state of low awareness to

quality (or ideal) use of the mobile service

We use different techniques to

examine earlier and later stages

• “Understanding” and earlier stages of the

journey are harder to quantify using

available ‘service usage data’, and are

investigated with qualitative research

• We conducted data analysis on existing

service usage data for “Access” and later

stages of the journey, as well as

investigating these with qualitative

research Ideal

Usage

UnderstandNon-Aware Access Register

Users have bought a

packet of seeds giving

them free access to

the service

Users have sent an

SMS to the short code

and successfully

registered for the

insurance

Users have become

aware of the service

Aware

Users have potential

to access the

service but are not

aware of it

Repeat

Users have re-

registered a packet of

seeds after payout

decision, either within

the same or next

season

Users have become

aware of the service,

and understand its

value

Positive customer experience

and repeat use is the target

• The service logic is such that customers

who register for the insurance are

mitigated against the effects of poor

rainfall by replanting in the same

season, this should logically drive

repeat use of the service next season

Page 24: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Assessing the size of

bottlenecksWhere are the majority of customers in this

journey towards ideal use?

24

Page 25: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Early stages of the journey cover a

large potential market, though

access is limited

The total size of the addressable

market in Kenya is 7+ million farmers

• These farmers will be at some state of

unawareness, awareness, or understanding of

the product – the exact proportions are hard to

assess

• We estimate 200k farmers had access to the

service through purchase of a packet of seeds

with the insurance service included* – we

assessed the product at one key point in time

over Long Rains season in 2014 UnderstandNon-Aware Aware Access

7m+Addressable

Kenyan market of

maize farmers

~200kUnique Farmers

who had access

to the product*

3%

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

For the period we assessed, only 200k

had access to the product

*This estimate comes from the number of

packets of seeds sold, and number of cards

printed so is a very accurate representation

of access – we assume farmers buy 2

packets of seeds on average based on data

from farmer interviews

Page 26: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Later stages of the journey are

broken down into more detail

26

Access

Failed

registration

Passive buyer

Payout

No Payout

Users buy a

packet but never

attempt to

register

1 pack

2 pack

3-9 packs

10+ packs

Users attempt

to register for

the service but

fail to do so

successfully

Registered

users receive

payout

depending on

rainfall data

RepeatRegister

Variance of green highlights the

spectrum of value for the service

No repeat

User does not

register for the

product again

next season

Higher

value

A more granular view of later

stages in the journey helps us

assess specific bottlenecks

• Green stages highlight positive usage, or

gateways towards positive usage

• Red stages represent bottlenecks or drop

off points for customers

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

Page 27: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

We then assess the severity of each

bottleneck

27

We used service usage data to give

a detailed view of all customers of

the service over the period

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

Analytics conducted on data for

Long Rains 2014, on:

• SMS registration logs + system

registration data

• Mobile money payout data

• The percentages in this diagram show the

proportion of customers who fall in a given

category, given that the customer bought a

packet seeds with the insurance service

‘accessible’

Access

Failed

registration

Passive

buyer

Payout

No Payout

Users buy a

packet but never

attempt to

register

1 pack

2 pack

3-9 packs

10+ packs

Users attempt

to register for

the service but

fail to do so

successfully

Registered

users receive

payout

depending on

rainfall data

RepeatRegister

No repeat

User does not

register for the

service again

next season

2.22%

1.39%

96.4%

2.06%

0.16%

1.94%

0.27%

~200kUnique farmers

who had

access

Note: Analytics based on usage data

from a pilot phase of the service

Page 28: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

With bottlenecks in view we assess

barriers to use at various stages

28

Repeat

+7mAddressable Kenyan

market of maize

farmers

UnderstandNon-Aware Aware

98%Missed the

opportunity

for free

insurance

Access Register

0.16%Had repeat

usage of the

product

~200kFarmers who

had access to

the product

At various

stagesOf awareness or

understanding of

the product

What stops farmers

from becoming aware

and understanding

the service

?

At point of purchase

what limits

registrations from

those who access

?

What limits repeat

usage from the point

of registration

onwards

?

What drives

bottlenecks?

Note: Analytics based on usage data

from a pilot phase of the service

Page 29: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Assessing the cause of

bottlenecksWhat factors are creating obstacles to use of

the micro insurance service?

29

Page 30: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 30

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

What stops

farmers from

becoming aware

and understanding

the service

?

Page 31: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Awareness limited by partner reach

& low insurance awareness

At present Acre Africa works with one Seed

Company, creating a natural cap on potential reach

• The Seed Company have ~5% market share in Kenya, meaning

that the full potential market for the service is not reached

• Partnering with other seed companies could dramatically

increase service outreach, but this depends on the nature of the

incentive for seed companies – i.e., competitive advantage or

loyalty scheme approach

In general, low awareness of insurance and

the specific service under investigation creates

a natural barrier

• Qualitative research in specific target regions revealed very

low awareness of the service in Kitui and Tharaka-Nithi*

• Low awareness of agricultural insurance exists in general, in

Kitui it has been promoted with livestock (Equity Bank) but

very little crop insurance

• In Embu there appears to be higher awareness of the service

since this has been a region of marketing focus through local

radio campaigns while agrovets and the Ministry of Agriculture

(MoA) were made aware through events and training

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

Insurance is something that has been well

promoted on the livestock side, but is really

not well known in relation to crops

MoA extension worker, Kitui

~5% market

share

~90% market

share

Maize Seed Companies - Market share

Seed

Company A

Seed

Company B

*Note, qualitative interviews were conducted in

Kitui, Tharaka-Nithi and Embu, which had common

features for farmers: limited resources and access

to information; precarious/vulnerable lives; drought

prone environment (increasingly). Regions also

varied, notably: Kitui - active ministry of Ag; Embu –

higher exposure to insurance; Tharaka-Nithi:

neglected region with tough climate

Using m-

insurance

service

Not yet using

m-insurance

Page 32: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Awareness & understanding not

optimised through best channelsThe service is not marketed through all possible

channels to increase farmer awareness

Many farmers are reliant on local radio for

information, regularly listening to agricultural

programmes and interactive talk shows

- Interactive talk shows, advertising, weather

forecasts; service has limited exposure

Farming groups and co-operatives often make

their decisions as a collective, including seed

purchase, often led by a few influential

farmers

- Discussions in groups, many deciding as

one, service not in these conversations

Informally, word of mouth recommendations

play a significant role in influencing and

informing purchase decisions

- Community sharing advice with each other,

service not often discussed

In particular, agrovets are a key actor to consider,

and they currently don’t push the service

Majority of farmers buy seeds from agrovets, typically

a trusted individual who they visit for all of their

farming inputs

- The service is not currently something the agrovet

is aware of/perceives as helpful in strengthening

farmer trust

Majority of customers come in with a lead or knowing

what they want, asking the agrovets to confirm

- Agrovet less likely to influence seed choice, but

very well positioned to further educate on insurance

service

More proactive farmers prefer to secure seeds as

early as possible to reduce risks and costs, but others

aren’t even able to buy whole packets

- Agrovet prepare stocks early

- Sometimes resell smaller amounts to farmers (not

always a whole bag)

Word of

Mouth

Farming

Groups

Radio

Securing

seeds/

amounts

Pre-

purchase

selection

Trusted

Agrovets

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

Most times they come in asking for

something they have heard about. They just

want me to confirm for them

Agrovet, Kitui

Most farmers hear what seeds to buy

on the radio in the weather forecasts

Agrovet, Kitui

Farmers Agrovets

Page 33: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Those who are aware are prone to

misunderstand the serviceBoth farmers and agrovets often think the value

proposition is linked to seed authentication

33

• In locations where there is little awareness, the service is assumed

to fulfil another role and its core value is largely disregarded

• In general both farmers and agrovets are prone to think that the

card is linked to the authenticity of seeds, potentially driven by a

‘certificate of authenticity’ available from other seed brands, but

also by a prevailing concern with ‘genuine seeds’

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

It’s a guarantee in case the seeds don’t

work – you text in to verify the seeds are

genuine. If they don’t germinate you can

text in to get your money back.

Agrovet, Embu

Agrovets

FarmersFarmers discarding, some storing

card as proof of purchase or

promotion

Agrovets assume it’s the certificate

of authenticity, some explaining this

to customers but many disposing of

the cards

There is a card inside to certify the The

Seed Company seeds. Another seed

company also has one.

Agrovet, Kitui

Page 34: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

When they ask for 1kg of The Seed

Company, I show them the card to prove it’s

authentic then I put the seeds in another

bag for them

Agnes, Kilimo agrovets, Embu

Agnes is a former insurance trainer and agent in Embu that runs a small agrovet business named Kilimo agrovets. She has also been made aware/received training on the the insurance product we investigated (The Seed Company conducted a training with agrovets, MoA and farmers in the area).

Despite this there is confusion about the role of the mobile service – she tells us it’s used both to certify the seed, and as insurance.

She’s been telling some customers about the insurance but says many aren’t opting in and some aren’t receiving the confirmation message when they do.

Juja, Agrovet, Embu

Juja runs a hardware store, general store and agrovet business just outside of Embu.

He broadly understands idea of the service but also believes texting in is a way to verify the authenticity of the seeds. He was at a seminar with The Seed Company recently and they confirmed this notion.

He claims to have been telling customers and handing out leaflets, his incentive being evidence that he sells genuine seeds.

They told us, if the message doesn’t go through,

the seeds are fake. And I know if the seeds are

fake or they don’t germinate, I will lose customers.

Agrovets

Assume a certificate of

authenticity, or

authenticity system

for farmers

NOTEIf the farmer doesn’t buy a

whole packet of seeds the

product does not apply –

some are buying smaller

quantities, should smaller

packs be considered for

some small-holders?

Page 35: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Seed authenticity is top of mind, and

likely driving distractionFarmers have suffered over recent years from imitation

seeds, leading to a heightened concern at purchase

During the peak of the rainy season, the black market capitalises on

the high demand for certain seeds by responding with imitation/’boiled’

seeds

• Many farmers recounted experiences of this

• Perception exists that the given seed brand suffered from this in

recent years; seeds don’t germinate, are damaged or rotten, etc.

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

I have received many complaints

about the given seed variety. They

are in demand so in rainy season

people are selling them from

everywhere even on the road side

Agrovet, Embu

There are those people around

who cheat farmers, you have to be

aware!

Farmer, Kitui

This means that in store farmers are very focused

on authenticity, looking for clues and safeguarding

as much as possible

• Checking packets for manufactory/expiry date,

looking at quality of seeds inside packet

• Requesting physical receipts and storing packs

Agrovets also aware of authenticity concerns

know it can have repercussions with customers

• Making efforts to assure customers of ‘genuine’

seeds with collateral and certificates

• Attempting to take complaints back to

distributors and manufacturers with very little

success

Agrovets

Farmers

Note: There are examples of mobile

products that deal with authentication

issues in the M4D space, e.g. mPedigree

Page 36: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 36

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

At point of

purchase what

limits registrations

from those who

access

?

Page 37: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Agrovets have no incentive to push the

product resulting in low access rates

Agrovets have a range of concerns when selling…

37

Loyalty created through reliable/authentic products, customer

service/information and flexible payment. Loyalty has reverberating effect

on business; farmers also promote agrovet through word of mouth

Supplier and distributor relationships are key to agrovet product selection

and they motivate agrovets in a number of ways

Visits and seminars

Informal recommendations

Commissions

Collateral and ‘recognising’ the agrovets

Ultimately though, agrovets are motivated by products they know will “fly

off the shelves” or enhance their business – high turnover is most sought

after as it allows for reliable stocking and cash in hand

They come back to me for good

customer service. I give them

information, and I am flexible with

them, like providing credit.

Agrovet, Embu

My favourite suppliers are The

Seed Company, their product goes

the fastest.

My favourite suppliers are an

agrochemical company. They come

round each time and replaced the

expired goods with new ones. They

are really my best friends

… with no clear reason to push the insured seeds Commission is an impactful way to

incentivise product, but only if the

agrovet perceives the product as of

sufficient quality/use to farmer

Agrovets don’t push the product at present because it doesn’t fit with the

prevailing concerns around selling, and they currently have no clear

incentive to do so

Supplier

relationships

important

Sales

volumes

over margin

Value

customer

loyalty

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

Page 38: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Kithino AgrovetAgnes started her business 8 years ago. Business is very

seasonal and over the years one or two other agrovets

have opened nearby.

Along with the usual agrovet products/services, she has a

certificate in animal health, and her speciality is being

trained in animal injections. She has many regular

customers, whom she advises and teaches, they often

come to her with their issues.

They trust her and take her advice positively – ‘if it works,

they will return next season’

If your products are

fast-moving you are

making money.

Meeting the needs of

customers will lead to

greater profit

Herbicide you have big margins but you

sell few. Maize, the margins are low

especially during rainy season but

customers will take many. The key is to

be very fast-moving: buy, sell, buy, sell.

High rotation.

The Seed Company’s brand had some

promotion on radio a few years ago

and everybody came to buy, I was

very happy

What motivates her

Agnes measures the success of her business through

sales – the number of products sold as opposed to

margins.

Her second key measure is how customers are talking

about her business.

Maize seeds and rainy season

The rainy season is her peak selling time and she restocks weekly or daily during this period. Her margin on the product is low and there is very little difference between brands:

Brand A – sells for 450KSh, gets 40KSh profit

Brand B – sells for 400KSh, gets 50KSh profit

Brand C– sells for 500KSh, gets 50KSh profit

Suppliers and Incentives

She receives a range of contact and incentives from

suppliers/distributors. Her favourite companies:

• Osho Chemical – well known, products sell fast

• Syngenta – Works like magic, and they ‘recognise’ her

by inviting her to events, and she receives a bonus if

certain sales targets are met

Kithino Agrovet, Tharaka-Nithi

Supplier

relationships

important

Sales

volumes

over margin

Value

customer

loyalty

Page 39: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Packaging & card are not clear

enough to encourage registration

A number of factors lead the packaging &

card to have low impact on farmer’s access to

the insurance service

39

• Paper packaging leaves some customers frustrated as they

are unable to assess seed authenticity and quality

• Packaging doesn’t announce/support insurance service in its

current form: busy design, important product details get lost

• In particular, there are no instructions on the packaging

(some on card) on how to register for the insurance, and no

indications about the benefits of insurance to the farmer

anywhere

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

The insurance is

not clearly

marked on the packet…

…and

not included on

the instructions at the back of the

packet

Card in Englishleads many farmers to

mistake it for a proof of

purchase, or certificate of

authenticity

Issues…

Page 40: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 40

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

What limits repeat

usage from the

point of registration

onwards

?

Page 41: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Attempted registrations fail for

various reasons

41UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

Ability to register is a serious area

of concern as so many fail without

reason

• Few users are registering at present, but of

those who are, 39% cannot access the

service

• This could be for reasons of service failure

(e.g. location data not collected in backend

platform), or a user-side issue (e.g. entering

false code, or trying to cheat system)

• While this issue only applies to a small

number of users now (in the 1000s), it

presents a major bottleneck that will be

encountered by any farmer trying to register in

future

39%Failed

registration

Users attempt

to register for

the service but

fail to do so

successfully

Register61%

Invalid code

Users enters

wrong code for

service

No data

No data

recorded to

diagnose the

problem

Invalid location

System does

not return a

valid location

for the

customer

Unique

Customers

attempting to

register

7,207

1 pack

2 pack

3-9 packs

10+ packs

71%

16%

12%

1%

High

medium

medium

Note: Analytics based on usage data

from a pilot phase of the service

Page 42: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

The picture of repeat use after

payout is instructive

Could payouts drive more repeat use

than at present?

42

• Payouts drive 3x the number of repeat

registrations than non-payouts

• Nevertheless we believe more repeat use could

be driven from this category – given that these

users should be the candidates who received the

most positive product experience, i.e. ‘got paid’.

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

Farmers are repeating use most

frequently in the next season

• A key component of the value proposition for

farmers is that they “can replant and harvest the

same season”, but more are taking the route of

re-registering the next season

'replanting in

same season'

appears to be

lower than use

in the next

season

Payout

No Payout

Registered

users receive

payout

depending on

rainfall data

Users re-

register

successfully for

the service,

next season or

same season

Repeat

Repeat

registration

Same season

Next season

7%

Payouts drive

3x the repeat use as

compared with

no payout

549

7,207

low

High

Note: Analytics based on usage data

from a pilot phase of the service

Page 43: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Payment could come at a more

optimal time for farmers

The payout may come too late for farmers, and

could fit more neatly into the crop cycle…

43

• The pay-out is welcomed and there is some evidence that it

stimulates repeat use and word of mouth promotion of the

product. However, the current pay-out timing presents some

challenges as it is often received about a month or more after

planting

Some farmers avoid replanting altogether, and for those

that do replant, this typically occurs a week or two after

the first rains

• Receiving payment a month after first rains is considered too

late for replanting, and moreover comes at a time when

farmers are thinking about their loss in potential earnings

Re-

purchase

?Pre-

purchase

Purchase

Replanting

Register

1

2

3

4

5

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

!

… moreover, it is unlikely to be used for seed re-

purchase

• Farmers are unlikely to spend money on seeds for next

season at the point of pay-out. Spending will generally be

prioritised on more immediate needs.

Page 44: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Joseph, Farmer, Embu

Joseph and his wife are full time farmers in the Embu

area. They own a ¼ acre of land and have been

struggling in recent years with the lack of rainfall and

resources available to them.

Joseph is a regular buyer of the given seed brand and

has used other insurance offerings - he has used the

insurance 5 times and received pay-out. However after

he encountered a pay-out dispute, he stopped using this

insurance previously.

When he first heard about the insured seeds (that we

investigate here) on the radio he ignored it the first year,

but he tried it last season and received a pay-out.

He feels positive about the service, has shared it with his

farming group and plans to use it again. The pay-out was

welcomed in a tough year. It did not go towards new

seeds as it was too late (he doesn’t replant), ideally he’d

like the money to be sent to him the following season.

I received money but it was too late to plant. They

should send me the money next season otherwise it

goes towards other things, not used on the farm.

If yield is high, you can buy everything on time for next

year. If not you may struggle to make ends meet.

The seeds germinated but

the rains stop soon after

this, I received a pay-out. I

was very happy to receive

the money.

Repeat

Page 45: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Poor insurance ‘user experience’ is

a bottleneck to repeat use

Lack of trust in the insurance and

demand for transparency underscores

the issue

45

• Insurance services are uncommon in Kenya, with 3.2%

insurance service penetration overall.*

• Evidence from qualitative research also suggest that

negative experiences with payout disputes can create a

strong barrier to re-use. Lack of transparency as to why

payouts received/ not received must be considered

There is a need to ensure service performance

is robust and transparent

*Sources:

KPMG insurance in Africa report 2014,

National Survey Insurance Regulatory

Authority of Kenya, 2012

• Lack of communication or reassurance creates doubt

for farmers - for many the journey ends abruptly after

registration – after no response many assume they have

been registered or carry on in doubt

• Just as for first time users, repeat users face significant

registration failure issues - 42% likelihood of failed 2nd

registration which could damage product perception

UnderstandNon-Aware Access RegisterAware Repeat

Technical

failures at repeat

use stage could

damage long

term customer

perception

What happens if I

don’t hear

anything back?

Farmer, Tharaka-

Nithi

Failed Re-

registration

Users re-

register

successfully for

the insurance,

next season or

same season

Users attempt

to re-register for

the service but

fail to do so

successfully

Repeat

Repeat

registration

I won’t be using insurance

again, I will warn others in my

town not to trust people

coming around selling

insurance to them

Farmer, Kathwana area

312

Note: Analytics based on usage data

from a pilot phase of the service

Page 46: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Customer journey summary

% base who accessed Key issuesSegment / Stage

• Seed authenticity is top of mind, and likely

driving distraction from registration

• Agrovets do not understand/ trust the service

• Those who are aware are prone to

misunderstand the service value proposition

• Awareness & understanding not optimised

through best channels

• Awareness limited by partner reach & low

insurance awareness

• Agrovets have no incentive to push the product and insurance service resulting in low access and registration rates

• Packaging & card are not clear enough to encourage registration

• Attempted registrations fail too often

• Low same season re-use & payment coming

too late to replant

Priorities

2.22%

100%

--

Diagnose registration

failures/ improve service

performance

Redesign product to

make use of (rather than

compete with) concern

with authenticity

Non-Aware

Aware

Access

Understand

Register

Repeat 0.16%

~200kFarmers who

purchased

the insured

seeds

+7mAddressable

market of maize

farmers

Redesign so farmers get

payout when most useful

Revamp and align

marketing/ packaging to

drive awareness

understanding

Create incentive for

agrovets & use

distribution channel to

best effect

Make use of best

channels to market

service (e.g. local radio,

farmer groups, MoA

where appropriate)

Create a strategy to roll

out service to a wider

range of players in

same/new markets to

capture more market

share

Page 47: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Industry RecommendationsLearnings for the wider M4D industry for

launching agricultural micro insurance

services

47

4

Page 48: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 48

Employ

subsidy model

to cover farmer

premium

Assess mobile

money maturity

Consider insurance in markets where

mobile money already has certain

level of rural adoption. In particular

check that:

Mobile subscribers have wallets &

are comfortable with concept of

‘cashing out’

Rural mobile money penetration is

sufficient and quality agent network

is in place

There is enough trust in mobile

money systems

Choose the right

reimbursement

model

Selling insurance directly to small-

holder farmers presents a challenge as

this is:

• A new concept

• Hard to explain

• Typically requires ‘buy before try’

To overcome these barriers, business

models that involve subsidizing the

cost to farmers ‘try before you buy’ will

have greater chances of success. E.g.

agribusiness, input provider or bank/

MFI pays the premium, etc.

Providers must select the best

reimbursement model, two possible

models are:

• Mobile Money cash out – farmer

receives payout direct to wallet as

B2P payment

• Vouchers – farmer redeems the

voucher for a new product/input

(e.g. from merchants in distribution

network)

The second option has the advantage

of a closed loop system, but is likely

harder to scale (e.g., system & training

for merchants to accept vouchers

requires significant investment). Might

come into play later, when rural

merchant payments reach high levels

of adoption

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Page 49: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 49

Dedicated &

incentivized

distribution

channel

Technology &

user experience

must be robust

before scaling

Before attempting to scale, the service

must meet a certain level of

operational KPIs – e.g. pitfalls like

registration failure must be addressed.

Similarly, data analytics and user

testing should be used to evaluate

the pilot service, ensuring there are

no bottlenecks in the user experience

that will act as barriers to scale (e.g.

payouts coming at inappropriate times

for farmers, or farmers unable to

register properly for the insurance

service)

MNOs should

invest in Location

Based Services

Mobile can reduce key costs in the

traditional insurance model (e.g.

registration, claims assessment,

payout).

However, barriers around customer

awareness and understanding of the

product will likely be dependent on the

quality of customer education.

Distribution channel agents are likely to

have conflicting priorities and multiple

products and services to sell and need

a strong incentive mechanism in place

as well as high quality training.

A dedicated distribution channel is a

must, with agents trained on the

service and properly incentivised to

educate customers around

insurance

Mobile insurance services for

agriculture heavily depend on Location

Based Services (LBS) availability. LBS

represent a significant opportunity for

mobile agriculture service providers to

deliver location-customised services to

the agricultural population beyond

insurance.

Mobile operators could significantly

increase the value of mobile

services in rural areas by investing

in LBS systems and sharing data with

service providers within mutually

beneficial partnerships.*

* Once enabled LBS systems could be leveraged for other services (same sector or other industry sectors/

segments e.g. healthcare), gradually increasing value of mobile products and services.

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Page 50: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 50

Use best-fit

investment

vehicle for

m-insurance

Bundle with

other agri

information

services

Consider bundling insurance with

other supporting information

services, e.g.

• Weather forecasts (near time of

planting and harvesting)

• Agronomy tips (at relevant times of

the crop cycle)

• Market prices (at points when the

farmer is preparing to sell)

This can serve to increase the value

proposition to farmers, reduce

investments in user education on the

service, build trust in the product and

reduce the risk of the mobile financial

service.

Co-brand with

MNOs to drive

further buy-in

The best vehicles for investors to

use for m-insurance services should

follow the same lines as any other

commercial venture. Vehicles like 0%

debt, convertible debt or equity, as

opposed to subsidising premium costs

over a fixed period are preferred.

Note: that by subsidising the premium

donors/ investors are hindering the

reality test for the business model, and

potentially disrupting later commercial

investment in m-insurance services.

Building awareness and trust in the

product at an early stage is key, and

operators have significant brands upon

which insurance services can build a

relationship with the customer.

Operators and insurance providers

can seek mutually beneficial

partnerships in terms of branding

the product, for example ‘powered by

[the Mobile Operator Brand]’

messaging can serve to increase

customer awareness, while ensuring

co-branding at the most ‘delightful’

parts of the customer experience (e.g.

payout) will benefit all parties.

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Page 51: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 51

Be mindful of

counterfeit

concern around

agricultural

inputs

Design for scale

from B2B

perspective

A B2B model provides a useful

foundation for the subsidy of farmer

premiums, but m-insurance providers

should aim to quickly diversify the

portfolio of business customers to

mitigate against risks of revenue being

overly dependent on one external entity

and creating a barrier to scale.

Mitigate against

reputation risk

around insurance

product

Many agricultural inputs in developing

countries, e.g. seeds, fertilizer, &

pesticide, etc., suffer from

counterfeiting, especially when a

product has been particularly

successful in a given season.

This counterfeit concern can distract

farmers from the insurance value

proposition. M-insurance providers

should consider how to create

servcies that address both

insurance and authenticity value

propositions for farmers*

Word of mouth is a powerful marketing

tool especially in rural areas with

community-based culture. If farmers

don’t trust the service, e.g. after a bad

experience, this will have long term

repercussions that create barriers to

service uptake.

Providers must ensure that the

service is well tested and negative

user experiences are mitigated

against before investing in

marketing to avoid long term damage

to reputation, which can act as a barrier

for all m-insurance providers in the

space.

* It is worth exploring & analysing existing m-solutions that address the authenticity concern, e.g., mPedigree

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Page 52: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 52

Raise

awareness of

existing open

data

Use best market

channels to raise

awareness

Assess the most cost effective channels

to reach farmers for the given target

market. The optimum marketing channels

for micro insurance services targeting

farmers may vary based upon market &

geography.

In general, radio appears to be a

consistently strong channel with which to

reach farmers (e.g. farming shows).

However, in other situations various entities

are useful means for ‘tapping into the

farming conversation’, e.g.

• Farming groups

• Ministry of Agriculture – extension

workers

• PoS – merchants selling to farmers

Tie physical

packaging to

the insurance

product

There are a range of institutions who

make/can make open data available

(satellite data in particular). This data

can be invaluable to m-insurance

providers in spear-heading innovations

(e.g. cloud cover satellite data).

We suggest a call to action for

organisations with location

based/historical data to make it a

public good – where feasible – so that

m-insurance and other mAgri service

providers can build services using

these datasets.*

In cases where the insurance service is

linked to a distinct agricultural input (e.g.

seeds, fertilizer, etc.) ensure that product

packaging is tied to mobile service.

This is critical to ensure that:

• The input product (seeds, fertilizer, etc.)

is differentiated from competitors (if this

is the intention)

• The farmer can be made aware of the

service through the physical packaging

itself

In particular, consider opportunities to align

physical packaging and other ATL/BTL

marketing efforts (e.g. ATL campaign refers

to features on the packet)

* See Columbia's Earth Institute website as an example of an organisation making such data available

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Implementers

Investors

Partners

Relevant for:

Page 53: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Appendix

Introducing the M4D Impact

Evaluation Service ModelA means of helping and advising

organisations to better use their data

53

5

Page 54: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

An opportunity & challenge around

data in mobile for developmentBig Picture – “Big data” touted as game changing

in international development, mobile leads the way

54

• Many refer to the opportunity in “big data” in international

development as a means to better serve the interests of

underserved populations

• Solutions in the international development space that use mobile

technology are of particular interest because of the volume of

data they quickly generate - with over 1800 Mobile for

Development (M4D) services now tracked by M4D Impact, this

opportunity grows every day

A Key Barrier for the Industry – Not data access

but data use

>1800M4D services

tracked*

• Organisations offering mobile products and services that target

underserved populations – from Mobile Network Operators to

NGOs – all desire to better use data they already have, with

business questions in mind to ensure sustainability, social

impact, and scale

• The need for tools and frameworks that allow implementing

organisations to make better use of the data they have is striking,

with 56% of respondents from a recent M4D survey citing this

need as primary

56%Are in need of tools

and frameworks to

make use of the data

they have

”[industry] is realizing the

potential for channeling these

torrents of data into actionable

information that can be used to

identify needs & provide

services for the benefit of low-

income populations”

– World Economic Forum

The data

opportunity

Major

challenge

In M4D

What is the greatest barrier to

using existing data?**

Source: (*) M4D Impact product and service trackers (**) M4D Impact survey results – see ‘Making the most of data in M4D’ report

Number of M4D

services by country

Page 55: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015

Our approach creates direct impact

and shares replicable methods

55

We work with M4D service providers across sectors

Results from our survey

show a need across sectors

and organisation types to

make better use of existing

data*

Provide support to tackle barrier of lack of frameworks and tools

A cost effective service

supporting M4D service

providers to make use of

existing data, focusing on tools

and approaches that can be

reused would prove valuable for

a wide range of organisations

Seek replicable approaches

across sectors &

organisation types

Beginning on a case-by-case

basis with given M4D service

providers in tackling barriers to

data use, we seek to refine

replicable frameworks and tools

across sectors

Add value to the wider

M4D industry across

sectors

Share findings with the wider

industry – insights and tools

that are relevant and applicable

across sectors; both directly

and indirectly impacting M4D

service providers in supporting

them overcome barriers to data

use

M4D

Service

Replicable

Frameworks

Seek to distil

Evaluate

/ Advise

Explore/

Analyse

UnderstandMake

recommendations to

providers that

support them

reaching scale

Extract insights from

each engagement,

providing thought

leadership to the

industry

Produce robust

industry tools as a

result of the iterative

approach

Example

use

Example

use

Tools and

Frameworks

Support to overcome

barriers in use of data

data

data

data

Direct

Impact

Unique

Insights

Robust

Tools

Source: (*) M4D Impact survey results – see ‘Making the most of data in M4D’ report

Service

Data

Use Cases

56%Are in need of tools

and frameworks to

make use of the data

they have

Note on privacy: It is important that the request for data be in line with regulatory market requirements (e.g. customer location data generally cannot be shared without the customer’s consent).

For further resources on data privacy go to http://www.gsma.com/publicpolicy/mobile-and-privacy/design-guidelines & http://www.gsma.com/publicpolicy/mobile-and-privacy/mobile-privacy-principles

Page 56: Micro-Insurance in Mobile Agriculture - GSMA Intelligencedraft-content.gsmaintelligence.com/AR/assets... · Mobile micro insurance is evolving, but agriculture services lag behind

© GSMA 2015 56

Authors

Gilles Morain

Masae Analytics

[email protected]

Adam Wills (Lead)

GSMA M4D Impact

[email protected]

Guillaume de Chorivit

Altai Consulting

[email protected]

Jamal Khadar

2CV

[email protected]

Natalia Pshenichnaya

GSMA Mobile Agriculture

[email protected]

Further acknowledgements:

With thanks to Caroline Sheldon for project management, & Hannah

Metcalfe for leading qualitative research from GSMA M4D Impact

With thanks to Benjamin Njenga (Head of Business Analytics), Rahab

Kariuki (Head of Sales and Marketing), & Sharon A. Onyango (Actuarial

Officer) from Acre Africa for providing key information & input